American dreams

A biotechnology company in Kentucky,Alltech, are planning to start producing malt whiskey. The project is outsourced to it’s subsidiary, Alltech’s Lexington Brewing Company. The company is new to distilling, but that doesn’t seem to bother them much – since it’s a much simpler product to make, when compare to bourbon.

The founder of Alltec, Pearse Lyons, said that “Bourbon, Kentucky’s most famous distillery product, requires years of aging. But malt whiskey — “a cousin of beer,” — can be aged quickly in small containers and be ready in two years.”

I really don’t this gentleman has the faintest clue of what really goes into a good malt. But I wish them luck in their endeavour to make the whiskey – which is to be called “Lyons Reserve”.

Btw. the same company is also said to be “developing” a bourbon drink similar to Irish Coffee. But it’s yet to be given a name. May I recommend Kentucky Coffee with a recipe of a swig of bourbon, brown sugar and coffee, topped with whipped cream. We can discuss the “development fee” later.

PS! US regulations state that two years is the minimum time for whiskey (be it bourbon, rye, Tennessee, malt or other whiskies), while most of the whisky producing world favours a minimum of three years.